President Obama gave Shell Oil approval to begin drilling offshore this summer in the Chukchi Sea near Alaska on Wednesday, July 22. The permit only allows the company to drill into the top layer of seabed until a capping stack, able to cap oil wells in an emergency, is repaired.

Researchers from the University of Wisconsin Milwaukee tested treatment plants to see what happens to medications after they’re flushed, either by passing through peoples’ systems or dumping of unwanted pills. They found that two drugs — anti-epileptic carbamazepine and antibiotic ofloxacin — came out at higher concentrations than they went in.

The researchers predicted that earlier studies failed to consider other kinds of contributing factors such as extreme weather, water levels and animals. From 1969 to 2012, the university team measured plant productivity at a U.S. Forest Service meadow just outside Bozeman, Montana.

The groups argue that the predictions for Grand Junction and White River BLM districts are grossly underestimating the amount of water that will be required. The new estimate is that each well would require 250,005 gallons of water. However, groups claim water use for horizontal drilling between 2011 and 2014 averaged 3.

This new figure comes from Mark C. Urban of the University of Connecticut, who analyzed 131 published studies on how climate change will affect biodiversity. His investigation showed species in Australia, New Zealand and South America would be worst affected, primarily because there are organisms there found nowhere else on Earth.

“There is growing evidence that high mountain regions are warming faster than lower elevations and such warming can accelerate many other environmental changes such as glacial melt and vegetation change, but scientists urgently need more and better...

“We used to think global warming would happen someday, but someday is now,” said Anna McDevitt, campaign organizer for Environment Colorado, in a press release. “We are already seeing record heat and more extreme weather, and without bold action, the next generation will be left a dangerous inheritance.